An evangelical congregation which four years ago bought a Church of God building in Susquehanna Twp. has filed for federal bankruptcy protection.

The C.E. Hines Memorial Christian Fellowship at 3840 N. Progress Ave. has filed for the protection from Faith Church of God in Mechanicsburg, from which it bought the building. The fellowship owes Faith Church of God $723,341.67, the Dauphin County sheriff’s sale filing stated.

The Rev. William M. Hines Sr., fellowship pastor, and representatives from Faith Church of God declined to comment for this story.

Dauphin County Court records indicate that Faith Church of God at 101 S. Frederick St., Mechanicsburg, filed a mortgage foreclosure in May. It claimed that C.E. Hines was more than two months delinquent on a $650,000 mortgage that was finalized in April 2008.

Under that mortgage, Faith loaned the Christian fellowship the principal at 7 percent interest. The fellowship was supposed to pay $3,792 monthly until April 2011, when a balloon payment was due for the balance.

The fellowship never responded and has no attorney on file in the foreclosure action, court records stated.

The foreclosure action prompted a Dauphin County sheriff’'s sale, which listed the $650,000 principal, $7,582 in interests and $65,758 in attorney fees.

Samuel Bufford, a professor at Dickinson School of Law at Penn State University and a bankruptcy judge for 25 years in Los Angeles, called the case of one church filing protection from bankruptcy against another “unusual but not unknown.” Bufford, who teaches bankruptcy law, said that he presided over more than 125,000 bankruptcy cases in 25 years, including some involving churches.

“The churches who filed bankruptcy cases were all unincorporated,” Bufford said. “They all ended up being liquidated.”

Calling bankruptcy law “the most complicated federal law in the United States,” Bufford said that churches get no special protection from the law when it comes to bankruptcy.

He noted that the Christian fellowship filed a Chapter 11 case the day before the foreclosure sale, which he said is fairly typical.

“Chapter 11 is used by businesses when they want to reorganize their affairs,” he said. “It gives the debtor time to propose a reorganization plan to pay the debts, such as reduced payments or reduced interest rates. Faith Church would have to approve the plan whatever it is. More than half of those who file for Chapter 11 fail and end up being liquidated.”

The fellowship was founded by Thewantha B. Hines, the pastor’s mother, and named for the late Elder Carl E. Hines, Jr., the pastor’s father who founded Shiloh Church of God in Swatara Twp.

The congregation held its first official Sunday worship service on Jan. 7, 2007, in a Swatara Twp. hotel. Three days later, the Faith Church board members accepted the fellowship’s offer to buy their church, according to the fellowship website.

On July 8, 2007, the congregation held its first service in its new church. In its early days, the church building was shared among the fellowship, Faith Church and the Inglesia de Fe church.

The chuch’s website said that Pastor Hines has a passion for building families and offers an outreach ministry which includes rehabilitation services to the community by assisting in providing employment, daycare services and job training.

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